From February 6th through March 7th, Panasonic is accepting video contest entries from users of the AF100--the industry's first professional micro 4/3-inch video camcorder optimized for high-definition video recording--for the opportunity to showcase their creative work and win valuable production equipment

Captures, records, and plays video images at four times the resolution of high definition television. Powered by JVC's Falconbrid large-scale integration (LSI) chip for high-speed signal processing and a 1/2-inch CMOS imager with 8.3 million active pixels, it delivers real-time 3840x2160 footage at 24p, 50p, or 60p.

Stephen Nathans-Kelly | Ryan Bodie's current passion, streaming live events, has established his company, Florida-based Studio 26 Productions, as the go-to live event webcast provider in his region and in some key entertainment areas, ranging from concert series in the spring to festivals in the summer and one-off arena gigs like a Chaka Khan show. Bodie estimates that his crew does roughly 80 live events per year, with maybe half of those involving music.

Anthony Burokas | A physically similar follow-up to the more professional AG-HMC80 AVCCAM, the Panasonic AC7P uses the more consumer AVCHD format, loses a few ports, and drops $1,200 from the price tag, making the $1,300 (MSRP) AG-AC7 the least expensive actual on-shoulder camcorder you can buy. But what do you get?

Chris Randall | If you're in the market for a new laptop for your SDEs, I highly recommend the HP EliteBook 8760w workstation. It's like taking a super-fast, full-sized tower computer and cramming it all into a laptop with an amazing display. With Adobe CS 5.5, the 8760w, and its built-in NVIDIA graphics card, you'll be ready to rock the SDE world!

Kyle Oliver | Chris Duke's broadcast and web TV show Motorz combines the agility of a technology professional with the enthusiasm of a lifetime, self-taught car buff. The result is an automotive DIY show that can, in Duke's words, "keep how-to installations real for enthusiasts." But it does this without giving the impression that there's anything amateur about the decidedly DIY Motorz operation, and looking inside that operation provides a great lesson into what a multitalented and motivated independent producer can accomplish without a studio behind him.

Niels Puttemans | At a certain point in your event filmmaking career, usually after watching a fellow filmmaker's online clip, you start dreaming of your own destination shoot. Although we at Ever After have filmed a few destination weddings before, our "dream client" turned out to be a young couple from Singapore. The couple was planning an engagement holiday through Europe and wanted an engagement film to show on their wedding day. It got better from there: We were asked to suggest the best city location in Europe for this December shoot. Although Paris gets more attention, if you're after a romantic European destination in December, there is really just one choice: Vienna, Austria.

Stu Sweetow | For corporate videographers, the opportunity to develop a rapport with the head of a corporation can be an opportunity for a long-term relationship with a firm. Your confidence with supervising the filming crew will be an asset the CEO notices. Your excellent pre-production planning ensures that the process runs smoothly, the exec performs in a relaxed manner, and the video exceeds the company's expectations.

Liz Merfeld | Andrew Waite runs Higher Definition Media (HDM) out of Bakersfield, and just this June launched its wedding-focused spin-off, Lovestruck Films. In addition, he is an indie filmmaker, with 3 self-produced features under his belt, and was among the first presenters announced for IN[FOCUS] 2012. Registered with the film commission, Waite often gets to crew on blockbuster films and even rent out his gear.

Shawn Lam | Jensen opens his training DVD with points that reinforce my belief that I made a great decision in purchasing the FS100. He explains some of the great features that the FS100 boasts, along with the benefits for the end user. His DVD is filled with great visuals of the camera, its menu system, video shot on the FS100, and graphics to demonstrate key concepts such as a scale comparison of the Super 35 sensor to 4/3", 2/3", 1/2", and 1/3" sensors.

ShootEditLearn.com co-founders Cristina Valdivieso and Jon Connor have announced a new workshop they are putting on in collaboration with Kessler Crane this fall in Austin, Texas, called Masters in Motion. The event takes place November 14-16 at Austin's Alamo Drafthouse; its 75-100 attendees will attend eight workshops in addition to shooting electives.

Shawn Lam | The Atomos Ninja has allowed me to improve my acquisition and delivery video quality using the same video camera I've been using. The best part is that the cost to upgrade my recording is relatively low compared to the cost of a new video camera, and it exceeds the recording quality of AVCHD, the codec that has replaced HDV. I'm also not a big fan of having to media-wrangle-that is, to change and dump cards while on-site-and having a 500GB hard drive means I can record 11 hours in LT, 7.5 hours in 422, or 5 hours in HQ before I need to switch to a second hard drive.

John Goolsby | If you've heard about the Sony NEX-FS100, you've probably heard it described as one of two things: a game changer or an expensive DSLR. Which is it? Neither. Sony calls this new model a "motion picture camcorder." I'll bet the company spent a lot of time trying to decide how to name this new piece of equipment, and I think it made a good call. The FS100 does not take stills, and it is not really designed for event filmmakers, but with a few minor modifications, it does a fabulous job.

Anthony Burokas | Canon's second MXF camcorder, the XF100/105 shrinks the size but keeps most of the features of its big brother, the XF300/305. With the ability to customize the colorimetry of most any camcorder these days, what else does the XF100/105 bring to the production table? Well, 50 Mbps 4:2:2 recording, good audio control and plenty of ways to directly access the most used features while you are shooting. Does the XF100 strike a good balance between "big features" and a "small camcorder?" Let's find out.

Stephen Nathans-Kelly | Recently, I had the strange and wonderful privilege of watching a contemporary home birth film that is not explicitly about advocating home birth or dramatizing childbirth, although in its own way, it achieves both. Produced by two Central Florida studios, Kat Small's Cinema Chic Films and the Nielsens Photography & Design, Born at Home is an intimate and inspiring family film.

EventDV, The Authority for Event Videographers, has done its sixth annual evaluation of the best and most relevant NAB releases for the event video market. Chosen each year by contributing editor and leading L.A.-area videographer and filmmaker Marc Franklin, the awards recognize products in two categories: production gear (including cameras, camera support, lighting, and so on), and postproduction solutions (including NLEs, plug-ins, and the like).

Jason Magbanua | For a lot of people, producing a same-day edit at a wedding reception is a regular thing, and it's something that is second nature after years of repetition. But for others, who find just shooting a wedding to be stressful enough, producing a polished edit to show to a live audience that same evening seems like an impossible task. Here, international wedding filmmaking sensation Jason Magbanua breaks down the same-day edit production process that's helped to make him "the new national artist" of the Philippines.

Niels Puttemans | Though you can occasionally fix issues with subpar audio in post, nothing beats getting it right the first time. Because the DSLR cameras that have transformed our work visually seem to have ignored the vital importance of audio in filmmaking, here are some ideas on how to make sure you capture sound that is as crisp as your imagery.

Shawn Lam | What happens when you deliver your event live? This is nothing new for live TV broadcasters, but more and more event video producers are being asked to perform their postproduction activities in real-time—that is, live as the event is occurring.

Shawn Lam | Adobe CS5.5 Production Premium, launched today at NAB, delivers improvements in speed, postproduction fixes, and real-time creative effects. Not only will the speed improve turnaround times, it will also provide editors with the luxury of experimenting, which is an important part of the creative process.

Randy Panado | collaboration becomes a bigger part of our industry and more of us are booking weddings outside of our own local markets, either because of the nature of our online marketing, our need to book weddings in a higher price range than our market will allow, or both, traveling to gigs becomes an ever-bigger part of our businesses—even for those of us who don't live on relatively small islands. Hawaiian filmmaker Randy Panado's own reliance on remote gigs has caused him to create a "kit" that is very efficient in terms of incorporating everything he needs to produce solid work and, at the same time, being light enough for travel.

Frances | Qualified artisans are going to be called upon to provide both still and video work, because fusion equipment has changed public perception and buying habits. In general, wedding and event industry providers have traditionally been slower to change, as are all vendors in this arena. But I'll admit total surprise at a recent party planners awards presentation where not one single winning event was served by fusion imagers. What are they thinking? Without fusion capability, your potential client pool is shrinking and will continue to shrink over the next few years. No market analyst I've interviewed says otherwise.

Patrick Moreau, Kevin Shaw, and Brian Lockhart | Over the past year, Patrick Moreau and his stillmotion crew have been working on the Emmy-nominated NFL Network program The NFL Season: A Biography, Presented by SAP. The producers of the show hired stillmotion entirely based on seeing their wedding films. In this three-part article (all in this issue), Moreau, NFL Network coordinating producer Brian Lockhart, and producer and director Kevin Shaw offer their own takes on the story behind The NFL Season and the lessons to be learned from how it all came about and how it all played out on and off the field.

Chris Randall | Most wedding cinematographers have come to realize the value of producing same-day edits (SDEs) for their wedding clients. It's a wonderful opportunity to show off our shooting, editing, and storytelling talents and a rare opportunity where we're actually paid to put our work in front of a room full of new clients, simply by carving out some time in the day to do what we do best. But there's one part of it that has little or nothing to do with our signature skills: presentation. In this article, we will explore what is required to cut out the third-party AV crew intermediary and use and implement your own AV gear for your SDEs. Chris Randall

Appearing for the first time will be a new workshop series called "Deconstructing the Story: Light, Sound, Motion & EOS HD," aimed at professional videographers and transitioning still photographers, and led by instructors from the industry-leading stillmotion team

Jan Ozer | Whenever I shoot a live performance, I have an internal debate about which functions to perform manually and which to let the camera perform. Obviously, the panning and zooming is my job; the question is whether I also take on focus and/or exposure. I shot my fifth Nutcracker season just before Christmas, which adds up to about 20 shows total, and I actually reached some clarity on this debate.

Welcome to the 2010 EventDV 25 Awards Show, presenting the 25 hottest and most influential event filmmaking studios in the world as elected by the readers of EventDV Magazine and EventDV.net. Your new all-star team will be presented here over the course of 5 days--February 28-March 4, 2011. Watch the shows in the video windows for the awards presentation, including samples of the all-stars' finest work. (Video players will fill in as the shows go live at 9am CST on successive days this week.)

Niels Puttemans | For Ever After Video Productions, the Panasonic Lumix GH2 has redefined the possibilities of DSLR shoots. The solved aliasing and moiré issues, audio monitoring, zebras, no recording limits, improved low-light shooting, 1:1 crop function ... these are all reasons why we bought a second GH2 after one shoot with our first.

Chrosziel has a prepared its 3DA1Kit (456-203DA1KIT) for the new S3D Camcorder Panasonic AG-3DA1 consisting of a LightWeight Support (401-415) with 15mm rods, the MatteBox 456 Academy Double and the Retaining Ring (410-65) shaped to tightly fit the camera's twin lens

Liz Merfeld | There's a wave of raw, demolike one-take music videos with an unmistakable live feel sweeping the web, and some savvy event filmmakers have thrown their hats into thering. Here we look behind the scenes of Bill Grant's boneshow and Jet Kaiser's One Take Shows, and get their spin on this new, viral field-recording phenomenon.

Kara Stellner | Although Unique University marked Adam Forgione's first foray into back-to-back all-day marathon workshops, it was also something of a warmup gig for Pennylane Productions, who will be taking Forgione's show on the road in early 2011, with workshops in 12 cities planned. This article should give you a good idea of what you can expect to see, hear, and learn if the Pennylane EDU 2011 tour rolls into your town.

Until January 31, Footage Firm is giving away its 11-DVD set of 150 ultra-slow-motion clips (normally $2,739). These are full-quality collections and all come with a royalty-free license that grants usage in all types of media, for worldwide distribution, in perpetuity.

Matrox Video Products Group today announced the immediate availability of release 2.1 software for the Matrox MXO2 family of I/O devices for Mac. Key features of this release include Adobe Creative Suite 5 Production Premium support and a powerful new stand-alone software application, Matrox Vetura Captur

Mark & Trisha Von Lanken | Working with DSLR footage creates new challenges in post, from ingest to format support issues to audio sync, and it takes a skilled editor and powerful, versatile editing system to create a masterpiece from even the most stellar DSLR footage. Here's a look at how the Von Lankens have adapted their short-form edit workflow to work DSLR imagery into the mix.

Anthony Burokas | Maxell's iVDR on-camera, modular hard drive-based storage system gives you the long record time of hard drives but with removable media packs, so you can swap them out and keep the camera crews shooting. The media packs are ruggedized with internal isolation. Maxell touts operating shock tolerance of 350 Gs—something generally only possible with flash media. Plus, with the iVDR-X adapter, you get faster access to your footage than the FW 400-based FireStore or a USB 2.0 connection to anything.

EventDV 25 all-star Adam Forgione of Pennylane Productions in association with Unique Photo in New Jersey will be giving two amazing workshops. The first 20 attendees to sign up for each workshop will receive a free gift card to Unique Photo.

Mark Von Lanken | There are literally dozens of DSLR support devices on the market,. The challenge for all of us is to decide which support device will best fit our needs. My goal is not to steer you toward one particular model or to tell you which one I prefer, but rather to explore three different models—covering both the good and the bad—and give you better insight into each model.

Stephen Nathans-Kelly | If The Promise teaches us anything, it's that the one thing you can't sacrifice is authority over your own work, regardless of how circumstances—financial or otherwise—conspire against you.

Marc Franklin | The latest edition of Avid's flagship desktop system, Media Composer 5 (MC5) is said to be the company's answer for people who said they went to FCP or Adobe Premiere Pro because "Avid didn't listen." Let's take a look.

Greg Lam | We've all seen the dazzling work of our peers who have taken the DSLR plunge, and thus have a good idea of what migrating to DSLR can do for our films and our businesses. But we also know tat DSLR cameras are fundamentally different animals from their video-camera counterparts. What can we expect when we make the transition, and what do we need to know about the new skills we'll need to learn and other gear we'll need to acquire to make DSLRs work in our video workflow?

On display in the Canon booth will be the company's full line of EOS DSLR cameras and lenses, VIXIA HD camcorders, imagePROGRAF large format printers, PIXMA inkjet printers, PowerShot digital compact cameras, and REALiS high-definition projectors

Stephen Nathans-Kelly | Does 3D have a place in wedding filmmaking's future, or is that notion just the stuff of science fiction? We spoke with one of 3D's earliest adopters in the wedding world, Abraham Joffe of Sydney, Australia. A few months back, Joffe produced and delivered a 3D wedding film—Australia's first, but already not its last—and lived to tell the tale.

Exhibition showcases the newest HD technology in an informal setting that allows professionals to get hands-on experience with the latest groundbreaking gear while conversing with colleagues and industry decision-makers

Jan Ozer | So there I was, struggling for an idea for a column, and Steve Nathans-Kelly mentioned that there was growing interest in distributing HD event videos to clients over the internet. Fortunately, this dovetailed well with some research that I recently performed, so here we are. If you're considering distributing some or all of your wedding or event-related content over the internet in HD, you need to ask yourself at least four questions.

Liz Merfeld | As experts and studio principals, have you ever considered enlisting a studio-owning peer to assist you on a shoot, instead of a freelancer? Your peers offer a wealth of technical and business acumen—not to mention talent—that can translate into a worry-free workflow and a brilliantly polished product. What's more, if recruited to help on a colleague's project, you stand to gain perspective in the humbling role of second or third shooter on a colleague's gig. Isn't it about time you stopped flying solo every weekend and got into the collaboration game?

Anthony Burokas | Canon continues to twist and turn out new ideas in the ever-changing professional camcorder marketplace. The latest is their MXF-based XF-series camcorders. These innovative camcorders offer 4:2:2 colorspace, a generous 50 Mbps data rate, and the Material eXchange Fomat for direct interoperability with today's nonlinear systems. Are they a revolution, an evolution, or something else entirely? I test the XF300 to find out.

EventDV 25 all-star and WEVA CEA Gold winner Philip "Frogman" Hinkle reports directly from WEVA Expo 2010, the event filmmaking industry's largest convention and trade show, held August 23-26 in Orlando, Florida. Stay tuned for all three episodes of Hinkle's show, which will appear over the next week on EventDV-TV.

Anthony Burokas | Thus far, the need for external devices to record HD footage has primarily been served by Focus Enhancements' FireStore line. However, there has been growth in the segment recently and Datavideo has entered the fray with a unique design and price point under $500. Does the Datavideo DN-60 Solid Stare CF Card Recorder give the more expensive recorders a run for their money? Let's find out.

NEX-VG10 equipped with the same Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor used in the "NEX-5" and "NEX-3" digital cameras and compatible with the high grade "E-mount" series of smaller, lighter lenses optimized for video shooting with silent operation and AF

David Himot | If you're looking for an inexpensive way to create stunning time lapses, the Pclix LT is a great product. The fact that it can be programmed to trigger most cameras and can change intervals on-the-fly makes it a great tool. Lastly, the simplicity of using it right out of the box will make the world of time-lapse photography literally a few turns of the dials away for DSLR event filmmakers everywhere.

Anthony Burokas | Sonnet has crafted a beautiful solution for rapid footage offload that gives your laptop far more connectivity, power, and capability than ever before. The system is solid, and in pure professional parlance, it does what it says it can do. The Qio is, without a doubt in my mind, the most useful professional video production accessory for a laptop-enabled tapeless live production workflow that you can get.

Elizabeth Avery Merfeld | After introducing themselves to the crowd at Re:Frame Austin, Society Hill Studios' Cristina Valdivieso and Jon Connor, along with partner Amy Reese now seem to pop up everywhere with the industry's inner circle. But how did these Young Turks manage to crash this party, seemingly overnight, and set themselves on the road to becoming one of the go-to studios in Philadelphia for couples wanting a high-end, artistic wedding film? (Read on for more info about their upcoming event, CANON FILMMAKERS LIVE!)

Chris Watson | If you're one of the thousands of videographers who are currently or have recently upgraded to a DSLR such as the Canon 5D Mark II, EOS 7D, or Rebel T2i for video, you've likely experienced the sticker shock of how much money you'll need to invest in lenses. The conventional wisdom is that there are two ways forward when it comes to lens purchasing: One way is to invest in the fastest glass you can find and write it off as the cost of doing business. The other way is to buy slower glass at a lower cost. We'll look at the pros and cons of each.

Ben Balser | This month we'll look at the workflow for ingesting and editing Canon DSLR footage in Final Cut Studio, since Canon has a released an FCP plug-in for the Log & transfer window. But there's more than one way to go about ingesting this footage into FCP in a format that lends itself to fast, easy editing.

Sara Frances | The darlings of my photo bag are my medium telephoto lenses, which can generally be considered the range from 75mm to about 135mm. I love them simply because they make everyone look good and in proportion.

Mark Von Lanken | Owning your own business has many rewards, but at the same time, it comes with frustrations. Don't let your NLE add to your stress and frustration levels. Find an editor and assemble a system that makes your editing process smooth and manageable, no matter what acquisition codec you use. Now that I shoot AVCHD and DSLR footage—which means I'm always working with codecs not designed for editing, and which is about as demanding as it gets in the wedding filmmaking world—EDIUS 5.5 is the answer for me.

Marc Franklin | Every year the NAB show teems with new product announcements and trends, and it often marks the real-world debut of tantalizing new gear that was under glass a year ago. Some of what you see is too premature for primetime, some new developments look a little misguided, and others are simply mismatched with the event filmmaking world. Here's a look at what's ready, what's real, and what's most relevant to us among the most exciting products that are making their way to market following this year's show.

Mark and Trisha Von Lanken | In Episode 5of their popular EventDV-TV series, 5-time EventDV 25 honorees and WEVA Hall of Famers Mark and Trisha Von Lanken explore the advantages of sliders in general and the DP Slider in particular for event filmmakers. To watch this episode and the entire Von Real series (plus other clips by the Von Lankens), click through to this page.

Sara Frances | When we're shooting at traditional events, presentations, or even just shooting on the street, the lowly normal-angle lens tells the story like it is. It's just right for an astonishing percentage of situations. The normal-angle lens reproduces the same relationship, proportion, and size of the objects that the eye sees. I can't imagine ever going out without a 50MM in my kit.

Philip Hinkle | The Steddiepod is designed to be used as a monopod, a tripod, and even a flying stabilizer. Can it be all those at the same time and do those functions effectively? Well, being a shooter who's always searching for the best and most cost-effective stabilizer to perform all these tasks without adding too much extra gear or breaking my budget, I thought it would be worth checking out; read on and watch the clip that accompanies the article to see how it performed.

Jan Ozer | Video technology and postproduction expert Jan Ozer examines Adobe's new CS5 integrated suite from a variety of angles, including new features and interfaces, a run-down of theadvantages of the new Mercury engine, performance comparisons between CS4 and CS5, and configuration suggestions for video pros working with the new suite.

Alan Naumann | One expression I grew up with was "big things often come in small packages." Cameras such as the Flip and the Kodak Zi8 also demonstrate that, because of today's technology, great video can be captured in very small (and inexpensive) cameras.

David McKnight | McKnight Video shot AVCHD footage with the Panasonic AG-HMC150 all over the Rick Springfield & Friends Cruise, ingested it and edited in in Vegas, and lived to tell the tale. Do the advantages of AVCHD production outweigh the postproduction challenges? The point is probably moot.

Philip Hinkle | As he's hit the speaking circuit in recent months, 2009 EventDV 25 honoree Ray Roman has maintained steadfastly that most of the stunning shots that elevate his wedding work are achieved through basic, solid shooting and composition along with a quiet command presence on site. But 2008 all-star Philip Hinkle wanted to see for himself, so he followed Ray and his wife and partner, Jessica, on a recent shoot to find out how Ray Roman Films gets the job done.

Stephen Nathans-Kelly | So what is City of Lakes, and why all the hype and excitement surrounding a wedding film that no one had even seen when this article went live? To find out, read the article and check out the WORLD PREMIERE, Wednesday, April 14, Brenden Theater, Palms, Las Vegas. (Details in the article.)

Stephen Nathans-Kelly | After realizing that the recession-era summer of 2009 was the rare wedding season when business was slow enough to allow him the flexibility to do pro bono work—Fowler took the job as behind-the-scenes videographer for ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition when it came to his hometown. And he was glad he did because, for all its TV trappings, this was a great project—and a great community project at that.

David McKnight | VASST's AVCHD Training DVD that carries the following tagline: "Learn the ins and outs of AVCHD and how it affects you." Your host is the well-known Douglas Spotted Eagle (aka Spot); imagine if you ran into Spot at a coffee shop, pulled up a chair, and said, "Tell me everything there is to know about AVCHD!" That's pretty close to what you get with this DVD.

Sara Frances | In this column, I'll focus on the easiest and most familiar lens to videographers: the wide angle. Event work lends itself to big drama-the beauty shot, the grand sweeping overview. If your standard kit contains just one extra lens, it's bound to be a wide or wide attachment.

Ron Dawson | Many event filmmakers follow a similar career arc: They get into the business for artistic reasons and eventually realize that their emphasis on artistry is hurting their bottom line, so they redirect their attention accordingly. But what happens when you devote so much attention to business and marketing that you lose touch with what first drew you to this profession? Here, marketing and social media industry icon Ron Dawson talks about how to get back to your original source of inspiration: filmmaking.

Jan Ozer | If you're starting to focus more on the art of the production and want to experiment with multiple lenses, variable-speed recording, and more storyboard-based productions, the JVC GY-HM700U should be on your short list.

At PMA this year, Sony confirms plans to further expand the appeal of its digital imaging range. Additions to the a ("alpha") range of DSLR cameras will be joined by a new product concept that makes high-quality imaging accessible to an even wider audience of photographers.

Shawn Lam | Sennheiser's latest offering is the G3, and aside from a pair of external charging contacts to charge the optional BA 2015 accupack rechargeable battery, it looks almost identical to the G2 that it's replacing. So the question I set out to answer for myself is this: Did Sennheiser make enough improvements to the G3 to entice me to upgrade my current G2s?

Shawn Lam | Sennheiser's latest offering is the G3, and aside from a pair of external charging contacts to charge the optional BA 2015 accupack rechargeable battery, it looks almost identical to the G2 that it's replacing. So the question I set out to answer for myself is this: Did Sennheiser make enough improvements to the G3 to entice me to upgrade my current G2s?

Anthony Burokas | The HM100U, introduced in mid-2009, is generally perceived as the small camera in JVC's ProHD line, which was established with the highly innovative and groundbreaking shouldermount GY-HD100U in 2005 and continues today with the HM250U and the HM700U.

Mili & Sid Ghosh | South Asian royal weddings require planning, preparation, and conceptualization of an entirely different order than the typical wedding film—especially when you have to bring your crew and equipment to India to complete the project. But it can be done, even by U.S.-based wife-and-husband wedding film teams. Here Mili and Sid Ghosh present a creative director's guide to grand-scale epic wedding film production that will make even your royal clients proud to have hired you.

Sara Frances | Attention Fusion still/video shooters: The honeymoon with so-called "bokeh art" is over. The harsh facts have been revealed. This is the first column in a series aimed squarely at alleviating user panic and at getting the Fusion equipment babies trained and ready to work for you.

JVC will demonstrate a GY-HM700 camcorder outfitted with Zacuto accessories and a JVC HZ-CA13U PL Mount Film Lens Adapter, plus its popular GY-HM100 handheld camcorder. JVC will also showcase a number of monitors, including the GD-463D10U 3D display, as well as the SR-HD1500US Blu-Ray Disc and HDD Recorder combo deck

Jerry Cleveland | Since I knew I wanted to incorporate the 5D into my wedding and event video equipment arsenal, I started doing some research into how to make the camera steadier and how to ensure that I was shooting in focus, especially when working outside. It had to be easy to unfold, easy to adjust, fast to set up, and lightweight. I settled on one line of products: the DSLR Gunstock Shooter Gorilla Kits by Zacuto.

Stephen Nathans-Kelly | How wedding and sports event videographer Danny Sayson developed, shot, and produced a full season of West Coast Adventures entirely on spec, pitched and sold it to PBS-TV, and became a full-time TV producer with one season under his belt and a second in production.

Shawn Lam | Can a lite product ever be as good as the full version? The name itself implies that something is missing. Does that presumption hold true for Kessler's new lite version of its flagship KC-8 Basic crane, the KC-Lite 8.0? Read on. I think you might be surprised with the results—I know I was.

Jan Ozer | Few things in life are as opaque as working with YouTube—a black box with irresistible appeal to most video producers. Trying to discern how to produce the absolute best quality has consumed boatloads of my time in the past. Recently, however, a concert event client asked me to post six videos to YouTube, and I dove in again. Here's what I found out

Lee Rickwood | Among the many new hardware and software tools available for professional videographers to improve and enhance their work, perhaps the most crucial is the clever ability and creative ways manufacturers can find new uses for the tools at hand. In this month's grab bag of product announcements, repurposing plays an important role.

Anthony Burokas | I was recently tapped to work on an independent feature film, a Western set in 1880s Texas shot on the Panasonic AG-HPX300. In essence, it was a video shoot. But there were also some fundamental differences. Based on several days of experiences there, I have a few recommendations for those embarking on a similar path: 11 lessons learned about indie filmmaking from my sojourn into that world.

Stephen Nathans-Kelly | Wedding-day interviews are the sort of thing that used to give videography a bad name, but done right, and in the right setting, interviews can help elevate wedding and event filmmaking into the realm of powerful, character-driven storytelling. Here we learn from four leading wedding and event filmmakers renowned for the compelling, revealing, funny, and moving stories they collect in their interviews with the key players in their events, and the seamless and powerful ways they incorporate these interviews into the films they produce.

Elizabeth Avery Merfeld | In just 3 years, Ray Roman has parlayed his passion into becoming one of the most sought-after wedding videographers in the country. WEVA and In[Focus] have tapped him to speak at conferences and bestowed accolades upon him. He's sponsored by Cinevate. His high-profile client roster boasts names such as the Cole family (as in Nat King and Natalie) and enough professional athletes to field a fantasy sports team.

Elizabeth Avery Merfeld | In just 3 years, Ray Roman has parlayed his passion into becoming one of the most sought-after wedding videographers in the country. WEVA and In[Focus] have tapped him to speak at conferences and bestowed accolades upon him. He's sponsored by Cinevate. His high-profile client roster boasts names such as the Cole family (as in Nat King and Natalie) and enough professional athletes to field a fantasy sports team.

Elizabeth Avery Merfeld | Last fall, Canon shook our world when it released the transformative EOS 5D Mark II, a DSLR featuring full-frame HD video and dynamic depth-of-field control. Along with others of its ilk, the 5D is revving up videographers' creativity, smearing the line between the photography and videography industries, and ushering in (some say) a new era of photo-video fusion. With several months of use under their belts, we asked a handful of early adopters for their take on how the 5D has impacted their businesses and where (if anywhere) their first forays into fusion have taken them.

Elizabeth Avery Merfeld | Last fall, Canon shook our world when it released the transformative EOS 5D Mark II, a DSLR featuring full-frame HD video and dynamic depth-of-field control. Along with others of its ilk, the 5D is revving up videographers' creativity, smearing the line between the photography and videography industries, and ushering in (some say) a new era of photo-video fusion. With several months of use under their belts, we asked a handful of early adopters for their take on how the 5D has impacted their businesses and where (if anywhere) their first forays into fusion have taken them.

Philip Hinkle | Back in July my wife and our summer intern had the opportunity to attend a hands-on training Class with Jeff Wright from Blue Skies Cinema. The class was presented in suburban Chicago in conjunction with the Illinois Videographers Association (IVA). Jeff and his wife, Andee, present several intensive workshops each year at their Southern California studio (as well as some stunning nearby locations), and Jeff frequently goes on the road to offer training with local and regional associations as well. I went along to check it all out and document the effectiveness of the training for this article.

Philip Hinkle | Back in July my wife and our summer intern had the opportunity to attend a hands-on training Class with Jeff Wright from Blue Skies Cinema. The class was presented in suburban Chicago in conjunction with the Illinois Videographers Association (IVA). Jeff and his wife, Andee, present several intensive workshops each year at their Southern California studio (as well as some stunning nearby locations), and Jeff frequently goes on the road to offer training with local and regional associations as well. I went along to check it all out and document the effectiveness of the training for this article.

In-Stat reports that consumers are interested in receiving 3D in the home, but 25% of those who are at least somewhat interested in having the ability to view 3D content at home are unwilling to spend extra on a 3D TV, and 43% want to spend $200 or less on the new TV

Stephen Nathans-Kelly | WEVA Expo 2009 delivered a bold mix of new speakers, live streaming experiments, discussions of fusion trends present and future, and a rollicking networking experience in a crackerjack new venue that seemed almost tailor-made for the wedding and event video industry's largest convention and tradeshow.

The AG-HMR10 handheld recorder and the AG-HCK10 compact camera head, which can be connected via optional cables (in 3-meter and 20-meter lengths), will be available next month at suggested list prices of $2,600 and $1,800, respectively

Elizabeth Avery Merfeld | In the 4 years since Mili Ghosh began Memories in Motion in Chicago with the goal of offering high-end Bollywood-style videos to a niche South Asian wedding market, her hands-on approach—consulting in details right down to makeup—has taken her all over the globe. From opulent weddings with hundreds of guests in her hometown of Chicago to royal weddings in India, Ghosh combines her own personal artistic vision with a devotion to her couples to create cinematic wedding videos with a flair not found anywhere else.

Elizabeth Avery Merfeld | Have you ever dreamed of doing a wedding shoot in which the guests and wedding party already knew and loved your work, and so they showered you with compliments throughout the day? Or one in which youy got the most candid, natural shots of even a camera-shy couple? Enter the Save the Date video: a short film produced far in advance of the wedding and distributed via your blog, Facebook fan page, Vimeo, or—less commonly—on DVD, in lieu of traditional Save the Date cards.

Anthony Burokas | As great as the new CMOS HS cameras on the market may appear, the reality is that the infamous "rolling shutter" CMOS image distortion can be easily seen when you bounce the camera up and down lightly, or when you pan the camera side to side—things you probably do routinely when you are recording with the camera in your hands instead of on a tripod. Here we quantify and qualify these issues with CMOS imagers compared straight-up with their CCD counterparts.

Loyd Calomay | The Glidetrack is a portable and very affordable dolly system that can be used quickly and easily to add the "wow" factor into any production. Its design is simple: a single rail that has a carriage mount for your camera that slides smoothly as you push it.

Stephen Nathans-Kelly | A conversation with Zacuto's Steve Weiss about his groundbreaking webisodic TV series, FilmFellas, which, beginning this week, will air a series of programs starring five legends of the wedding and event filmmaking world: John Goolsby, Kristen*, Joe Simon, Patrick Moreau, Kevin Shahinian, and Ron Dawson

Hal Slifer's 3 Questions goes on location in Plymouth, Newton, and Massachusetts' North Shore; bids farewell to the photomontage; sings the praises of the same-day edit; and looks ahead to the upcoming WEVA Expo.

Jan Ozer | By now you've heard that there's a new version of Final Cut Studio shipping from Apple. What's new? Well, it starts with a new price of $999, $300 less than Final Cut Studio 2. You can upgrade to the new suite from any previous version, even Final Cut Pro 1.0, for $299. All suite components were upgraded (to varying degrees) except for DVD Studio Pro—which, as you may recall, wasn't upgraded in the previous suite either. Fear not, however (are you sitting down?): The suite upgrade does enable a modest level of Blu-ray Disc authoring. Read on for more details.

Hal Slifer | When was the last time a wedding guest came up to you and told you she loved your work? If you only shoot the event, you will most likely never hear those words. It's time for you to be acknowledged and be loved for your talent and work by showing it in front of hundreds of guests at your next event.

Jan Ozer | H.264 is today's "it" codec because it was jointly created by the ISO and ITU, two standards bodies that together control the cell phone, television, and computer industries. Throw in the fact that Apple, Adobe, and Microsoft (for Silverlight) have all adopted H.264, and you've got a technology with lots of mojo.

Stephen Nathans-Kelly | Real Weddings is exactly what it sounds like: an hour-plus DVD that encompasses all the content the Von Lankens deliver to a bride and groom. But what makes this DVD most valuable is the two commentary tracks--one for shooting, one for editing--that run through the entire disc, breaking down virtually everything they do. Also featured: 2 video clips from the DVD!

Stephen Nathans-Kelly | Real Weddings is exactly what it sounds like: an hour-plus DVD that encompasses all the content the Von Lankens deliver to a bride and groom. But what makes this DVD most valuable is the two commentary tracks--one for shooting, one for editing--that run through the entire disc, breaking down virtually everything they do. Also featured: 2 video clips from the DVD!

With the launch of the new Re:Frame website morning, the Re:Frame Collective revealed dates, location, a (nearly) complete speaker roster, and some tantalizing details about what RF:SF 09 attendees can expect for the three-and-a-half day event, which will take place at San Francisco's toney CLIFT Hotel in the heart of Union Square, October 19-22, 2009

Steve Yankee | Remember that as videographers, you're able to visualize a story from its beginning to its end, capture that story, and deliver it in a moving picture. That's the magic that sets you apart from the technology you use.

Elizabeth Avery Merfeld | Steve and Laura Moses have been called the "prom king and queen" and "model husband-wife team" of wedding video. But forget the awards and accolades for a moment, since they're not what define this couple, nor do they tell the whole story of their lives in this business, or this business in their lives. Here's a brief review of their road to success and what they saw and learned along the way.

Elizabeth Avery Merfeld | Steve and Laura Moses have been called the "prom king and queen" and "model husband-wife team" of wedding video. But forget the awards and accolades for a moment, since they're not what define this couple, nor do they tell the whole story of their lives in this business, or this business in their lives. Here's a brief review of their road to success and what they saw and learned along the way.

Canon announced today it will release a firmware update for the EOS 5D Mark II allowing users to manually control exposure when shooting video. The new firmware will be available for download June 2 on Canon's support website

Ben Balser | Here we explore Final Cut Pro's track controls, teaching readers how to quickly and easily manage tracks and content, cutting down on the time they spend placing content, and increasing the time they have to be creative.

Lee Rickwood | Partly as a way to support today's multipurpose HD and DV cameras, for example, companies are incorporating a new appreciation of event videography shooting styles and situational requirements, in particular the "grab-and-go" approach that following a live event necessitates, as well as the realization that many pro video people use many different products for different jobs-from pure-play consumer to top-of-the-line professional

Lee Rickwood | Partly as a way to support today's multipurpose HD and DV cameras, for example, companies are incorporating a new appreciation of event videography shooting styles and situational requirements, in particular the "grab-and-go" approach that following a live event necessitates, as well as the realization that many pro video people use many different products for different jobs-from pure-play consumer to top-of-the-line professional

Building on the success of the HD Classic Soft filters with their Micro-lenslet design and the Black Frost filters using Black Micropore technology, Schneider has developed a new line of diffusion filters that combines the best attributes of both

Adobe Premiere® Pro CS4 version 4.1, a free update for existing customers of Adobe Premiere Pro CS4, improves compatibility with RED cameras, offering more control over RAW settings when used in conjunction with an updated RED plug-in, available in May from RED.com

Shawn Lam | Ultimately, your choice of camera is going to be determined by your preferences, your requirements, and the fit with your video business. For my business, the pairing of the HVR-Z7U and HVR-Z5U is the clear winner in this latest face-off of high-definition video cameras.

Lee Rickwood | New solutions for recording, storing, and archiving digital and high-definition video content bring the realities of a tapeless workflow closer and closer to an effective and economic working reality.

Stephen Nathans-Kelly | Like a rescued and refurb'd Super8, a 5D Mark II is an amazing tool for capturing what you see. But the cameras and the vision have to work hand in hand, much like style and story.

StillMotion cinematographers road-test Canon's game-changing HD camera on a series of destination wedding and music video shoots, and they reveal some of the camera's remarkable strengths and limitations for event filmmakers.

StillMotion cinematographers road-test Canon's game-changing HD camera on a series of destination wedding and music video shoots, and they reveal some of the camera's remarkable strengths and limitations for event filmmakers.

Now includes tighter integration with the Grass Valley Aurora digital production workflow, as well as a variety of new features that help users improve productivity and get the most from their investment, whether working in standard-definition (SD) or high-definition (HD)

Elizabeth Avery Merfeld | We asked 5 award-winning studios--all of whom have won international awards specifically for their demos--to demystify the process of producing an award-winning demo and help you master the making of your own.

New issue features Mark Von Lanken's definitive review of the Panasonic AG-HMC150, 5 expert opinions on how to construct an effective wedding demo, Ben Balser's tutorial on working with sound in Final Cut Pro, and new columnist Mark Foley's tips on how to get great on-site audio at live events

Lee Rickwood | The creative options for in-studio or fixed-location lighting for professional videographers will expand tremendously this year; we'll see new and enhanced LED and fluorescent products that offer extra control mechanisms and advanced color matching and correction tools, as well as more economical operation overall based on lower-energy requirements and longer-expected lamp life.

Shawn Lam | The primary benefit of the Matrox RT.X2 LE is that even after you add several effects and layers of video, your video preview is done in real time. In addition, once you're done editing, the subsequent export does not first require rendering time for the effects and layers before encoding.